Goals and Expectations
This term our goal will remain the
same as throughout Term 1 and 2. Every
year 2 classroom will be working towards a common goal. It is our aim to have EVERY child in our
classrooms read AT LEAST 3 home reading books EACH week! We are very excited and enthusiastic about
this as we all know, reading is the key to a child’s future! Please help your child to achieve this goal
by spending a few minutes each evening listening to them read, or reading with
them, and then signing their home reading log to ensure that they have every
possible opportunity to reach our goal!
English
During term 3, our entire classroom
theme will revolve around Animals and Life Cycles. We will be reading many fiction and
non-fiction texts about Animals and their Life Cycles, and focusing on reading
and writing Information Reports. At the
end of the term, all students will write an Information Report about a chosen
animal.
We will also be working very hard on
our reading skills and strategies, continuing with our learning of chunking
words, reading-on and rereading if we do not understand a word or part of the
story. Most importantly, we are learning
to understand what a story is about by answering ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions and
retelling stories in sequence. Although
it is important that we can read the words correctly, it is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT
that we understand what the story is about!
Maths
Mathematics this term is focusing on
our knowledge of Money, Calendars, Time and Multiplication and Fractions. We will be looking at adding coins and notes
to the value of $10, reading and understanding calendars and reading time to
o’clock, half-past, quarter-to and quarter-past. We will also be working on creating groups of
items (Multiplication) and Fractions involving halves, quarters and eighths.
Geography
This term our Geography focus is on mapping
Australian States and Territories, and discussing how a town is mapped out. We will be discussing and learning about our
local community, physical landmarks, and how and why it is mapped out the way
it is. At the end of the term, students
will design and create their own map of a town.
Science
Our Science topic this term is based
on ‘Life Cycles’. This will involve
looking at different animals and plants and how and why their life cycle
works. As part of this topic, we will be
having the ‘Living Eggs Hatching Program’ in our classrooms from Week 2.
Gentle Reminders
School Banking occurs every Wednesday
morning.
Please remind your child to bring a
full drink bottle and fruit break into the classroom every day.
Children need to wait at the
Undercover Area before school.
Attendance
It is a school wide goal
that all children attend over 95% of the school year. This includes lateness. Please try to reinforce this with your
children, instilling drive and motivation for learning into your children and
enabling them to realise the importance and value of school and education in
their lives.
Class Dojo: Have you installed the
Class Dojo app?
We are all using Class Dojo to reward
students and reinforce positive behaviour, including our Home Reading
goal. If you download the app, you will
get regular updates from your child’s Teacher and will be able to track your
child’s behaviour throughout each day!
Some tips for Home Reading
- Begin by looking at the cover.
Read the title to your child.
Discuss the picture on the cover.
Can your child relate this to their own life/experiences?
- Story walk – Take a ‘story walk’ through the book, looking at the
pictures on each page and discussing them with your child. Ask questions such as “What do you think is
happening here?” “Why do you think
that?” “How do you know that?”
- Word walk – From the beginning take a ‘word walk’, allow your child to
check each page for tricky words and also identify sight words that they
know. Encourage them to try to work out
the tricky words – chunk the word, read it within the sentences, read-on to the
end of the sentence, use the picture for clues.
- Read the text. Encourage ‘fluent’
reading (not stilted robot reading).
Some children may still need to finger point to remain focused on the
text.
- Ask your child ‘How’ and ‘Why’ questions. Have your child retell the story to you or
another family member.
Remember, we want to encourage
children to LOVE reading. If they are
not enjoying the book, read a book you have at home or visit the Library. If your child has a particular ‘obsession’
allow them to find books about that topic (even if they may be a bit difficult,
you can read WITH your child and TO your child).